Callum x Rayla-Darkness

This Is Nice

Callum and Rayla had been traveling for awhile now. Rayla thought she would have more stamina than him, but clearly she was wrong. She was about to drop dead when Callum said, "let's stop for today, you're clearly tired."

"And you're not?" she responded. This earned a laugh from him.

"I don't get tired unless I deplete my energy reserves and I replenish them by eating food, so if I eat, I don't get tired," he said. "Speaking of which," he said as he took out a package filled with flesh and began to eat it. He had a look on his face and his eyes turned into their black version. He looked like any other person enjoying a meal. Seeing him eat still unnerved Rayla. She knew that he had to eat or else he would compromise the safety of those around him. He noticed her looks and looked down. "Sorry," he apologized. "I'll finish this later." He put the flesh back in the bag.

"It's fine," she tried to reassure him, "It's just unusual for me to see someone eating raw flesh, human or animal." He smiled at her attempt to reassure him.

"You should eat something too you know," he said as he led her toward the cave he had found only to discover a tiger had occupied it. It stood up and roared at them, but Callum growled and it back down. It turned to run out of the cave.

"What was that about?" Rayla asked. She was confused.

"He recognized me as the alpha predator. Ghouls are at the top of the food chain, our smells are indicators of such things. The tiger knew not to mess with me," Callum said as he sat down to make himself comfortable. Rayla pulled out her food out of her bag. she had tons of dried fruits and some tree nuts. She finished eating and drank some moonberry juice from her flask. Callum felt nauseous watching her eat. "I wonder how something that used to taste fine now tastes utterly horrible now," he said.

"How do you avoid being found out when someone gives you food?" she asked.

"It's simply, actually," he said, "I eat eat whole and then throw it up later before my stomach tries to digest it. If I don't throw it up, the bathroom is going to be no mans land for at least the next 8 hours." Rayla needed no more descriptions. "You should try and get some rest," he said. "You'll need it." Rayla went to grab her bedroll only to realize something terrible.

"Oh no," she said, "I forgot the bed rolls." Some may wonder if this was a big deal or not, but bedrolls are important. For one, it keeps the cold out which conserves energy when food isn't in large supply. She looked up and realized he hadn't packed one either.

"It's no big deal. Come over here," he said. Rayla skeptically walked over to him. She was curious about what he wanted. Callum brought out his kagune. The blue tentacles were familiar to her now. He flattened them out behind his back and jumped onto his back. The kagune made for a makeshift bed. It was wider on his right side than on his left. She skeptical walked over and poked at it as if to check if it would be comfortable. Despite it's destructive power, it could be made to be soft. She lied down on it. It was surprisingly comfortable. It was also warm.

"I'm not hurting you am I?" Rayla asked him.

"No, I'm fine," he responded. He wrapped his arm around he waist and pulled her closer to him. She felt her heart flutter at the gesture. She snuggled up against him. Damn him, he was making her soft, but then again, was that really so bad. She felt sleep pull at her as she listed to the pulsing of the kagune below her. Callum follwed her soon after.

...

Viren was with Claudia and Aaravos and Aaravos didn't look happy. "Damn it, we have more trouble than we bargained for now," he said. 

"What do you mean? They can't possibly be that powerful," Viren responded, although he wasn't so sure.

"They are. A fight with a half kakuja nearly cost me my life. I would have died if not for the life saving healer that found me. Now we have to face two full fledged kakujas and they are experienced ones at that. We have to put our full power into stopping them. Nothing short of an all out attack will suffice. We know that they are heading to Katolis so that is where we strike," he stated.

"But something like that will take weeks to prepare," Claudia protested.

"I don't care how long it takes. The longer we wait to deal with them, the stronger they will get. we need to move as soon as possible," Aaravos said. Viren could sense the fear in his voice. He shuddered. He didn't want to fight what  was very clearly chilling Aaravos to the bone.

"Yes sir. I'll have the warriors prepare immediately," Viren said. He walked out of the room. He was frightened. For the first time in his life, he had no clear plan. No strategy or brilliant ideas came to him. This issue was new and it had its own level of threatening. He found the coin ouch he always carried with him at his belt. Maybe he could use that spell on them. "No, that's stupid," he said to himself. Aaravos told them that they were immune to dark magic, so why would this work. This was getting out of hand. The attack that he ordered really was the only option available to them. He was sad that the once great kingdom of Katolis was about to be slaughtered. It was his home after all. But it was necessary to save humanity from itself. If only he knew how hopless his situation was.